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The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday began raids at the residence of Bhupinder Singh, the main accused in the multi-crore guava orchard compensation scam, in the Mohali district of Punjab.
The Punjab Vigilance Bureau unearthed the Rs 137 crore scam last year and has arrested 33 accused so far. The fraud, which centred at the Barakpur village, where the ED began the raids, involved collusion between officials from the horticulture and revenue departments, the Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA), and private individuals.
Around 2016-17, people connected to the government and GMADA officers had prior knowledge of upcoming land acquisitions. They allegedly purchased land strategically and planted guava trees in large numbers to inflate the compensation amount. They allegedly manipulated records, claiming that the trees were planted in 2016 when, in reality, they were planted in 2018. This allowed them to extract crores in illegal compensation, as per the case.
Bhupinder Singh allegedly received compensation by planting guava trees on agricultural land acquired by the GMADA for development purposes. He allegedly conspired with the horticulture department officials to fudge the records to get compensation. The ED team has sought the case records to trace the money trail.
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